The Girls, theatre review: Gary Barlow's new musical offers cosy camaraderie and cream buns

The story of those lightly risqué ladies from the Rylstone and District Women’s Institute and their charity fundraising nude calendar is the gift that keeps on giving. Tim Firth turned it first into the hit British film Calendar Girls, then a play and now, in collaboration with none other than Gary Barlow, a musical. It’s certainly agreeable, but definitely from the cosy rather than groundbreaking school of theatre.

The perpetual problem confronting Firth, who also directs, has been the inherent lack of conflict in this overwhelmingly feel-good narrative.

This new reworking is the most sensible, using the disrobing for the calendar – and the deployment of the best line, ‘We’re going to need considerably bigger buns’ – as an end point.

Up until then, it’s camaraderie, personal discoveries and sadness in the Yorkshire Dales, as Annie (Joanna Riding) loses her husband to cancer and is comforted by her WI friends, above all gung-ho Chris (Claire Moore).

The songs are pleasant, with poignant ballad Scarborough the standout number. Riding is touching and the rest of the cast are undeniably game.

A peculiar subplot involving teenagers has been added, presumably in a bid to widen the very specific demographic appeal of the show. If only our heroines could have graduated to being called ‘women’ by now.

Until April 22, Phoenix Theatre

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